New record of petrified wood from the Lower Cretaceous Shahai Formation in Yixian of western Liaoning, Northeast China
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Abstract:
The western Liaoning region is known as one of the most significant fossil wood localities in China with diverse and abundant Cretaceous petrified woods. The Early Cretaceous petrified wood bearing horizons, including the Yixian, Jiufotang, Shahai and Fuxin formations, are relatively continuous. Among them, the most abundant wood fossils arefound from the Shahai Formation. Though some studies have been carried out previously, the composition of the fossil wood flora of the Shahai Formation remains poorly understood. In this paper, we report some well-preserved fossil woods from the Shahai Formation in Shidonggou village of Yixian County, Liaoning Province. Three species referable to two genera are identified, i.e., Phyllocladoxylon cf. eboracense (Holden) Kr?usel, Xenoxylon conchylianum Fliche and X. watarianum Nishida and Nishida. Among them, Phyllocladoxylon cf. eboracense is anatomically characterized by having distinct growth rings, uniseriate distant radial pits, and one large oopore per cross-field. Xenoxylon watarianum is featured by the presence of distinct growth rings, typical xenoxylean radial pitting, window-like cross-field pits, and a low ray height of 1?10 (mostly 2?5) cells. Then for X. conchylianum, it also bears xenoxylean radial pitting and window-like cross-field pits, but with a higher ray height of 1?21 (mostly 3?10) cells. The current new finding contributes to further understanding of the fossil wood diversity of the Shahai Formation and provides new fossil evidence for revealing the forest composition in western Liaoning during the late Early Cretaceous. The diversity of the Early Cretaceous wood fossils in western Liaoning is summarized. From the perspective of the wood fossils, it is inferred that the forest vegetation may have undergone some degree of changes during the transition of the middle to late Early Cretaceous in western Liaoning. In addition, this paper analyzes the species-level diversity of the Jurassic and Cretaceous Xenoxylon in western Liaoning area, and proposes that this genus was a dominant group all through the late Mesozoic. However, there is a difference in species-level composition between the Jurassic and Cretaceous intervals.
